"The Bible is Full of Lies and Contradictions." __(An atheist's observation)

An atheist (Blogger name: Caveman 73) commenting on Ray Comfort's blog, said:

"[T]he bible ... is a very tough read... So many contradictions and lies. "

My response:

Yep. Starts right about here:

"And the serpent said unto the woman, 'Ye shall not surely die':" [1]

...is expanded upon right about here:

"Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not." [2]

...and ends right about here:

"But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." [3]

After that, a new era begins:

"And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." [4]

[1] Gen. 3:4; [2] John 8:44-45; [3] Rev. 21:8; [4] Rev. 21:27

Jesus Came to Fulfill All Righteousness

"Jesus came to fulfill all righteousness (Matt.3:15). It is He who has kept God's law perfectly, so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes (Rom. 10:4). Christ was made to be sin for us, so that in Him we might gain God's righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21; 3:9). Only so God could be just and the justifier of the one who believes in Christ (Rom. 3:26)."

___Edmund Clowney (From an article titled: "What is the Bible About?")

Two Verses that Summarize the Theme of the Bible

Hear O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!

For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

(Deut. 6:4 & 1 Timothy 2:5)

The Overarching Theme of the Bible

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. _Isaiah 53:6

Jesus comments on John 3:16

The Text

John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Jesus' Comments

"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life."

"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him..."

"All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me."

"This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day."

And later he says to his disciples, "No one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father."

(Bible quotes from NASB)

The doctrine implicit in this text and Jesus' comments bars no one from receiving forgiveness of sins and eternal life who truly desires it. Rather, it provides hope for many who otherwise would have entered eternity unforgiven and forever condemned.

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

(1 John 3:1-2)

There are some passages of scripture...

My wife, Sheila, and I are reading through the New Testament, one chapter a day. As I opened the E.S.V. to this evening's reading, 1 Corinthians 13, the thought struck me that there are some passages of scripture that are just meant to be read from the King James Version. Other translations just don't have the style, or flavor that these passages seem to call for.

Maybe it is just because of my own familiarity with them, but the Twenty-third Psalm, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want...", and the third chapter of John's gospel, "...For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life..." seem to be endowed with a certain dignity and majesty by the KJV that other translations cannot match.

And what about the nativity passage in Luke's gospel that begins, "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night..."

There are other passages too, but here is what is sometimes called "the love chapter" in all of it's KJV beauty:

1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels,

and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries,

and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own,

is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

10 But when that which is perfect is come,

then that which is in part shall be done away.

11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child,

I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face:

now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three;

but the greatest of these is charity. (KJV)